Page 6 - DMEA Week 09 2021

DMEA POLICY DMEA

NOC wins Ras Lanuf refinery arbitration case

AFRICA LIBYA’S National Oil Corp. (NOC) this week the company to pay $120,000 in costs.
said that a Paris court of appeal had upheld an NOC chairman Mustafa A Bulgasm Sanalla
arbitration ruling against Libyan Emirates Oil said: “NOC is the trusted guardian of the Libyan
Refining Co. (LERCO) pertaining to the closure oil wealth. It has not and will never hesitate to
of Ras Lanuf refinery in 2013. take the steps necessary to protect and preserve
LERCO, which is a joint venture between that wealth.” The company added it would “take
NOC and a subsidiary of the UAE’s Al Ghurair all necessary steps to enforce its rights under the
Group, operates the 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) award and the court’s decision”.
facility. The appeal concerns to an arbitration At the time of the 2018 ruling, NOC said that
ruling in 2018 relating to a complex dispute if the case had gone in LERCO’s favour, and its
between the parties which led to the refinery claims, including damages of $812mn, had been
being closed. upheld, potential losses to NOC would have
Attempts to restart the plant faltered and been around $10bn.
plans to invest $2bn in the refinery had to be Sanalla then asked that all parties involved
shelved, leading to disagreements over the finan- dedicate their efforts towards re-opening the
cial management of the plant. plant as soon as could reasonably be achieved.
Via social media, NOC said that the Paris He said: “We stress the importance of LERCO
court had upheld the ruling that instructed restarting operations at the Ras Lanuf refinery as
LERCO to pay NOC more than $115mn plus soon as possible”.
interest, which amounted to $132mn as of Feb- Al-Ghurair part-owns and operates Ras
ruary 28. Lanuf, Libya’s largest refinery, having entered
The court also confirmed LERCO’s obliga- into the JV through its TRASTA subsidiary in
tions under a take-or-pay contract and ordered 2008.™

REFINING

Iran awards EPC contract as

refining levels are maintained

MIDDLE EAST PRIVATE Iranian refiner Tehran Oil Refining completed by mid-2024.
Co. (TORC) this week awarded an engineering, Meanwhile, Chagalesh’s contract also pro-
procurement and construction (EPC) contract vides for the construction of a 14,000 bpd contin-
to the local Chagalesh Consulting Engineers to uous catalytic reforming (CCR) unit increasing
upgrade gasoline producing units at the facility. the octane level of production from 87Ron to
The $240mn contract will see Chagalesh 91Ron, a 16,000 bpd naphtha hydrodesulphuri-
expand gasoline production at the 220,000 barrel sation unit, a de-ethaniser tower and other ancil-
per day (bpd) refinery by 12%, while increasing lary units.
the quality of output to Euro-V standard, accord-
ing to a report by Argus Media, citing TORC. Levels maintained
This will lift gasoline output from 6.6mn litres Last week, state-owned National Iranian Oil
per day (lpd) to 7.5mn lpd and will improve Refining and Distribution Co. (NIORDC),
refining margins by around $1 per barrel. which oversees TORC’s operations, said that
TORC anticipates the project being Iran had maintained its refining slate throughout

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 04•March•2021